Paula Radcliffe has admitted her career could be over due to injury. Photograph: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images

The women's marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe is facing up to the very real possibility she may never compete again because of ongoing complications with a foot injury.

The 39-year-old was forced to pull out of the 2012 Olympics shortly before they started, despite having had specialist treatment in Germany in July. Radcliffe underwent surgery in August when it emerged her foot problems were more serious than first thought and it was then she first entertained a future without competition.

However, she still had hopes of participating in a 10km race, as well as the 2014 London Marathon, but now she knows she may never again compete. Radcliffe told the BBC: "Targets have gone out of the window. I'm very much in that limbo where I know and accept that realistically it may not be possible. But at the same time I have a little window of hope and I would rather be able to finish my career in a race, rather than a race I can't actually get to the start line of."

She added: "I've not even been able to run after the kids in the last few months, and you start to think about the first goal – to get back and be able to have a normal active life and then worry about if I can get back to competing.

"In all honesty with me, it was probably always going to be something going wrong with my body that would make my career start to wind down because I am always going to want to keep competing and keep getting out there.

"I would love to be able to run a couple more marathons before I finish, even if it's just another half marathon. At the same time I would still like to have a healthy foot in 20 years' time."